The general concept of employing a base catalyst to improve the combustibility of hydrocarbon fuels in internal combustion engines is known. Broquet used tin in airplane fuel tanks in the 1940s to enable British aircraft to operate on the low-octane fuel supplied by Russia for English fighter planes sold to Russia. The general concept of using tin as a catalyst was improved upon and marketed as the Broquet Fuel Catalyst by Advanced Power Systems of the United States. The Advanced Power Systems catalyst is a tin alloy and is specifically directed to reducing hydrocarbon emissions in trucks and buses. Power Plus of South Hampton, England markets a fuel catalyst including tin and other alloys to increase engine efficiency. A similar device has been marketed by Power Makers Ltd., also of England.
However, despite numerous attempts during the nearly fifty years since Broquet developed the first tin catalyst to improve the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, no commercially successful fuel catalyst has been developed for use in internal combustion engines.
Thus, there is a long felt need for a solid catalyst that will improve the operational qualities of hydrocarbon fuels as used in internal combustion engines. Preferably, the improved catalyst would not only increase fuel efficiency but also would decrease emissions to satisfy the current environmental concerns.